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Guilty plea in deadly 2022 human smuggling
A man connected to the death of more than 50 migrants found dead in the back of an 18-wheeler in 2022 pleaded guilty to four separate charges. It's the deadliest human smuggling event in the nation.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - A man charged in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants being smuggled inside a tractor trailer in southwest San Antonio pled guilty on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Christian Martinez, 29, of Palestine, entered a plea of guilty to multiple counts in connection to the deadly tractor trailer smuggling incident.
Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Transport Migrants Resulting in Death, one count of Conspiracy to Transport Migrants Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury and Placing Lives in Jeopardy, one count of Transportation of Migrants Resulting in Death, and one count of Transportation of Migrants Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury and Placing Lives in Jeopardy.
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46 people found dead, 16 hospitalized after tractor-trailer containing migrants found in Texas
A city worker at the scene was alerted to the situation by a cry for help shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, Police Chief William McManus said. Officers arrived to find a body on the ground outside the trailer and a partially opened gate to the trailer, he said.
Martinez and co-defendant Homero Zamorano Jr., 47, of Elkhart, the driver of the tractor trailer, were initially charged by indictment on July 20, 2022.
Four other co-defendants were identified and charged in a superseding indictment on June 7, 2023: Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 30; Felipe Orduna-Torres, 29; Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, 38; and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 54.
RELATED: Four charged in connection to San Antonio migrant trailer tragedy
The indictment alleges that in the days leading up to June 27, 2022, Covarrubias-Ponce, Orduna-Torres, and others exchanged the names of undocumented migrants who would be smuggled in an upcoming tractor-trailer load.
The four additional defendants charged in the superseding indictment allegedly orchestrated the retrieval of an empty tractor-trailer and its corresponding handoff to the driver on June 27.
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Death toll rises to 51 after migrants found in abandoned tractor-trailer in Texas
Desperate families of migrants from Mexico and Central America frantically sought word of their loved ones as authorities began the grim task Tuesday of identifying 51 people who died after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer without air conditioning in the sweltering Texas heat.
According to the superseding indictment, Martinez drove Zamorano from Palestine to San Antonio where Zamorano picked up the empty tractor-trailer. Orduna-Torres allegedly provided the Laredo address at which Zamorano loaded the migrants into the tractor trailer.
The indictment also alleges that Gonzalez-Ortega traveled to Laredo to meet the tractor-trailer, where at least 66 undocumented individuals, including eight children and one pregnant woman, were loaded for smuggling.
Martinez, Covarrubias-Ponce, Orduna-Torres, Rivera-Leal, and Gonzales-Ortega then coordinated, facilitated, passed messages, and made each other aware of the tractor trailer’s progress.
Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on January 4, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.